Dude Detroit got two years time for stealing a girl’s car on their first date:

PONTIAC, Mich. — A Detroit man has been sentenced to at least two years in prison for stealing a woman’s car after skipping out on the check during their first date.

Twenty-four-year-old Terrance McCoy was sentenced Friday in Oakland County Circuit Court to two to 10 years in prison.

McCoy pleaded no contest Sept. 18 to unlawfully driving away a vehicle. A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as a conviction at sentencing

Police say McCoy dined with the 27-year-old Southfield woman on April 24 at a restaurant in Ferndale. The woman told investigators McCoy said he forgot his wallet in her car and asked for the keys. Police say McCoy then took off in the car.

DETROIT — The Rev. Lawrence Adams teaches his flock at the Westside Bible Church to turn the other cheek. Just in case, though, the 54-year-old retired police lieutenant also wears a handgun under his robe.

Adams is one of several Detroit clergymen who have taken to packing heat in the pulpit. They have committed their lives to a man who preached nonviolence and told followers to love their enemies. But they also say it’s up to them to protect their parishioners in church.

“As a pastor, I’m referred to as a shepherd,” Adams said. “Shepherds have the responsibility of watching over their flock. Do I want to hurt somebody? Absolutely not!”

Responding to a break-in at his church Sunday evening, Adams surprised a burglar carrying out a bag of loot and shot the man in the abdomen after the man swung the bag at him.

The burglar survived — for which Adams is grateful — but the reverend said he could have been hurt or killed if he had not been armed.

Detroit had the nation’s highest homicide rate last year among cities of at least 500,000 residents. The city has been losing manufacturing jobs for decades, and these days about one in four working-age residents is without a job.

According to a criminal complaint, (Leon Desmond Barrett, 37,) sent about 14 threatening letters to the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell between 2006 and April.

Some of the letters referred to an alleged dispute between Barrett and Bettis and his family. “We do not want to have a gunfight with them but if we have to, we will,” said one of the hand-written letters.

“I guess it (sic) going to be another Virginia Tech. massacre all over again in Detroit.”
A letter dated Aug. 18, 2007, said: “I’m getting ready to start killing some more people. Beyonce, Jay-Z, Jerome Bettis and Tune-up Man are the first 4 people I’m getting ready to kill.”

Similar letters were sent in 2009 to former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, care of the Hall of Fame, and former University of Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz, the complaint said.

Most of the letters bore Barrett’s signature and home address, the complaint alleges.

Only in Detroit would a bank robber have the last name Fortune. This one’s for the 211 Guy:

DETROIT — A Detroit man who said he started robbing banks to pay for his mother’s plumbing was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison, a lenient term from a judge who said the defendant had been an “outstanding citizen” before his crime spree.

Prosecutors wanted U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman to stick with federal sentencing guidelines, which would have given Jimmie Lee Fortune five years to six years in prison for stealing nearly $14,000 from five Michigan banks. Fortune, 29, had pleaded guilty in March, with prosecutors agreeing not to charge him with three more robberies.

Fortune had told investigators that he robbed the first bank in April 2008 to fix his mother’s plumbing and get his driver’s license reinstated. After that, he just kept going.

“I was so stressed and depressed,” he told U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman on Tuesday. “I found it difficult to separate life from fiction.”

He entered banks demanding money and yelling threats such as, “Large bills or I’ll start shooting,” according to the FBI. Fortune was not armed during the robberies.

A report in USA Today notes that the FBI claims criminal gangs are responsible for 80 percent of our nation’s crime. Here’s the story.

No Chargers in Industry this year, at least that’s a what a report in the San Diego Business Journal claims.

Local soldier Sgt. Hy Thai, of Monterey Park is profiled on News Blaze, for his work in Iraq.

Detroit cops slow to respond to reports of frozen body in abandoned warehouse, according to the Detroit News and the Associated Press, which cites the indifference of cops there as part of the city’s overall problem.

Another bit of sad economic news from my hometown, Detroit. Apparently a local elementary school is asking parents to donate toilet paper and light bulbs.

Pretty sad. Here’s the lede:

DETROIT — A Detroit elementary school is asking for donations of toilet paper and light bulbs to continue functioning.

The principal of the Academy of Americas sent a letter to staff, parents and partners asking for donations of items “that are of the utmost importance for proper school functioning and most importantly for student health and safety.”

In the letter, Principal Naomi Khalil cited budget constraints within the district as the reason that the school could no longer stock the items.

The district is grappling with a more than $400 million budget deficit and is on the verge of being assigned an emergency financial manager by the state.

On Thanksgiving, I took my hometown to task for turning into an American Baghdad or Beiruit.

The idea came from the arrogance of the Big Three heads seeking bailout money from the U.S. Government while being completely tone deaf about taking corporate jets to their hearing.

While the possibility of a bailout remains up in the air, more bad news flowed out of Detroit this week. The town’s two daily newspapers, the Free Press and the News announced they would scale back deliveries to three days a week.

Regardless of the bad news, for the most part Detroiters continue to defend their city against perceived attacks. And, it’s true there’s nothing worse than getting kicked when you are down.

WHittier PD, the DEA and the Orange County regional narcotics supression team served federal search warrants at three southland locations as part of an ongoing effort to bring down a viscous group of drug traffickers, officials said Thursday.

The group, known as the Jorge Cuveas-Mares DTO, was targeted by the Whittier PD, but hte investigation quickly became national in scope, a Whittier PD official said.

Warrants were also served in LA, San Francisco, Detroit, Indianapolis, Philly and Dodge City, Kansas.

The investigation ultimately resulted in the seizure of 300 kilos of coke, 160 pounds of meth and $3 million in cash.

Arrested were Jennifer and Nicolas Sendis of Whittier. They are in federal custody.

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